The present invention relates to an electronic watch having analog display means and, more specifically, to an ultra-flat analog electronic watch in which relatively thick elements are arranged without overlapping, outside the field of the display device which is recessed in the centre of these elements.
A watch of the type just described is commercially available at present and is described in our Swiss Patent Application No. 9854/78 filed on Sept. 21, 1978. In one illustrative embodiment of the invention, an ultra-flat 1.98 mm thick watch, known by the names "ESA 999" and "DELIRIUM", the central portion contains only the hands, the dial, and the gear train whose moving parts actually pivot in the back of the casing, which acts as the watch plate.
Mechanical watches have been known for a long time, in which the hour and the minute are displayed by means of simulated hands formed by index marks deposited either on two parallel discs, as described, for example, in French Pat. No. 1,085,177, or on an outer rim and an inner disc arranged in the same plane, as described, for example, in Swiss Pat. No. 514,874. In both cases, the barrel is arranged beneath the display and actuates the hour indicator either directly (French patent) or by means of an hour wheel fixed on the spindle of the indicator (Swiss patent).
These mechanical watches with discs inevitably are quite thick. In addition, a construction involving disc display means has not been available in electronic watches up until now.
The object of the present invention is to provide an ultra-flat electronic watch with a disc display means.